Defending champions the Northern Bulls and seven-time winners the Canterbury Crusaders clash today in an extraordinary Super 14 semi-final. It will be the first major rugby union fixture staged in the black township of Soweto, about a 30 minute drive southwest from the South African financial nerve center.
The move from the intimidating Loftus Versfeld home of the Bulls in an upmarket Pretoria suburb to Orlando Stadium was necessitated by preparations at the rugby ground for this year’s FIFA World Cup. How times have changed with Orlando Stadium once the dilapidated home of South African football, a predominantly black sport ignored by successive apartheid governments.
The Bulls were once called Northern Transvaal, an exclusively white team including soldiers and policeman who fought to uphold racist government policies and whose supporters were all white.
South Africa has moved on dramatically from those dark days and when the Bulls had to choose a temporary home from two football stadiums and one cricket ground, they opted for the rebuilt 40,000-seat Orlando Stadium.
Bulls coach Frans Ludeke sees no problems with the move to Soweto as the Bulls seek a second success over the Crusaders in three weeks having snatched a 40-35 mini-league victory at Loftus.
“The crowd will come, the referee will blow his whistle, and it should all be the same. It will be a great privilege to play in Soweto and the significance of the occasion is not lost on us,” he told reporters.
Sowetans in the crowd used to short, slightly built local footballers are in for a rude shock as they stare up at the Bulls 2m “man mountains” like locks Victor Matfield and Danie Rossouw and No. 8 Pierre Spies.
A giant conspicuous by his absence will be lock-cum-enforcer Bakkies Botha, suspended for four matches this week after once again being caught charging illegally into a ruck.
Shohei Ohtani and Clayton Kershaw on Friday joined their Los Angeles Dodgers teammates in sticking their fists out to show off their glittering World Series rings at a ceremony. “There’s just a lot of excitement, probably more than I can ever recall with the Dodger fan base and our players,” manager Dave Roberts said before Los Angeles rallied to beat the Detroit Tigers 8-5 in 10 innings. “What a way to cap off the first two days of celebrations,” Roberts said afterward. “By far the best opening week I’ve ever experienced. I just couldn’t have scripted it any better.” A choir in the
The famously raucous Hong Kong Sevens are to start today in a big test for a shiny new stadium at the heart of a major US$3.85 billion sports park in the territory. Officials are keeping their fingers crossed that the premier event in Hong Kong’s sporting and social calendar goes off without a hitch at the 50,000-seat Kai Tak Stadium. They hope to entice major European soccer teams to visit in the next few months, with reports in December last year saying that Liverpool were in talks about a pre-season tour. Coldplay are to perform there next month, all part of Hong Kong’s
Shohei Ohtani, Teoscar Hernandez and Tommy Edman on Thursday smashed home runs to give the reigning World Series champions the Los Angeles Dodgers a 5-4 victory over Detroit on the MLB’s opening day in the US. The Dodgers, who won two season-opening games in Tokyo last week, raised their championship banner on a day when 28 clubs launched the season in the US. Dodgers manager Dave Roberts shuffled his batting lineup with all four leadoff hitters finally healthy as Ohtani was followed by Mookie Betts, then Hernandez and Freddie Freeman in the cleanup spot, switching places with Hernandez. “There’s a Teoscar tax to
Marcus Rashford’s first goals for Aston Villa on Sunday inspired a 3-0 win against Preston North End that sent his side into the FA Cup semi-finals for the first time in 10 years. Rashford struck twice in the second half at Deepdale to end Preston’s stubborn resistance before Jacob Ramsey wrapped up Villa’s long-awaited return to the last four. Villa are to face Crystal Palace — 3-0 winners at Fulham on Saturday — in the semi-finals at Wembley Stadium in London. Revitalized since joining Villa on loan from Manchester United during the January transfer window, Rashford is beginning to show the form that
RSS